Covering it live – the York Gardens Library ‘read in’, Battersea

Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee spoke out against the planned closure of York Gardens Library in Battersea. Picture by Anisa Kadri @anisakadri on Twitter

I am the community publisher of a hyperlocal blog called Battersea People, which provides news about, yep, you guessed it, Battersea in South London. It’s Save Our Libraries Day today so York Gardens Library in Battersea that the council plans to close held an event to showcase various speakers and explain why it should stay open. I saw some people tweeting about the event so decided to set up a live blog about it on coveritlive.com:

By adding the Twitter feeds of people I knew would tweet throughout the event, and also allowing any tweets with the words York Gardens Library or #saveYGlibrary to appear on my live feed, I fully embraced User Generated Content (UGC). Indeed, this meant non-journalists’ tweets were featured in my live blog, and so users were providing information, breaking down the distinction between the journo and the user.

Live blogging is great for conveying the immediacy of news journalism. Having various Twitter-ers giving their views and updates on the York Gardens ‘read in’ on my live feed meant I was gauging rection moreorless in real time. Therefore, UGC not only blurs the distinction between journalists and users, it also allows the journalist to interact with their audience effectively and efficiently.